When the suits had been delivered, the Astray Project was stored separately from the G-Project. There were any number of reasons for it; Keep the two distinct, not enough space, or to keep an enemy from being able to target them all at once. The latter was what came into play now, regardless of whether or not it was the original cause. The world was full of the sounds of gunfire and shouts, the sights of the dead and the dying, and all the while the ZAFT forces continued onward toward their objectives. In the middle of all of this, one man had gone quite unnoticed.

Alexander Cross.

The Orb-allied Coordinator crept stealthily through the halls, laptop tucked under one arm. Stan had left it behind when he went to check on the suits, and while Alexander couldn't be sure of what happened to the man he certainly wasn't going to leave the computer to ZAFT. Not with what might be on it. He stepped over a slain soldier, gritting his teeth to prevent from paying him too much mind. He spared only a glance long enough to confirm that the man's gun had already been taken, which meant that he continued to be unarmed. That wasn't as much an issue for him as some; Being a Coordinator, he was capable enough physically. Things got dicey, however, when the enemy's Coordinator status was taken into effect. It had only required a momentary glimpse of them in action for him to know that. He'd have to take his chances.

His footsteps slowed as he approached the end of the hall, near where the Astrays had been stored. He'd hurried there the instant the attack began, seeking to protect his work, but he'd only heard that the enemy was approaching moments ago, over a fallen soldier's comm. That didn't leave much time-

Actually, it left none. As he rounded the corner he came face to face with a single soldier, clearly identified as the enemy, and was only just quick enough to twist away from the shot before it tore through his skull. A vicious kick to the back of his knee caused the foe to buckle, and allowed him to hit the weapon out of his hand. The foe was quick, but Alexander was quicker, pinning him to the ground in a single motion, hand over his mouth.

The soldier's eyes widened, and then narrowed with hatred. Even with his mouth covered, he could faintly be heard to hiss "Traitor!"

"I'm not traitor to you." He replied softly, eyes narrowing. "You've endangered my work. More importantly, you've killed some friends of mine."

The engineer set the laptop aside, never taking his hand away from his enemy's mouth. The soldier was pinned, Alexander's knee pressing against his torso to prevent him from escaping. Now with a second free hand, he wrapped it around the ZAFT soldier's throat, squeezing hard. He ignored the strangled noises emanating from under his hand, as well as the desperate struggles, waiting instead for the soldier to go still. "You'll all pay for that."

Scooping the laptop back up, he darted across the space towards the Astray units, hoping to reach them before the rest of the invaders arrived. Not that he really expected to be that lucky.